Air gun pellet

ABSTRACT

A pellet for a compressed gas powered weapon, such as a pellet gun, is disclosed. The pellet includes a forward head portion, a rearward tail portion having a hollow propulsion gas pocket, and an intermediate waist portion, the head portion having a front end, a centrally positioned penetration point protruding from the front end and a blade having a cutting edge extending between the penetration point and the front end for promoting penetration of the pellet into a target and improve penetration in addition to a shock wave generated by the front end.

This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/926,497 filed Jan. 13, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to ammunition and in particular to pellets for compressed gas powered weapons, for example air rifles or air guns.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Air gun pellets have either been designed for deep penetration or for “mushrooming” upon impact. The two designs have opposite objectives and have entirely different effects. Pellets designed for deep penetration typically have pointed tips to drive the pellet deeper into the target. Pellets that are designed to mushroom open upon impact typically have a cup-shaped head which spreads open upon impact with the target. Mushrooming defines the deformation radially outwardly and subsequently towards the back of portions of the head of the pellet. Both designs have their advantages and disadvantages with respect to hunting.

Deep penetrating pellets drive further into the body of an animal but do not cause much damage with the result that, unless a vital organ or structure is hit, the animal is not struck down and thus, can escape. Cup headed pellets are designed for mushrooming and spread open in the body, but do not penetrate deep enough into the body to damage major organs. They operate on a shock wave principle and may strike down an animal, but not permanently so that again the animal may escape.

It is not desirable when hunting to only wound an animal and permit the wounded animal to escape, since this will not only result in loss of the animal, but will expose it to prolonged suffering. Thus, the effectiveness of both penetrating and mushrooming pellets requires improvement. Mushrooming pellets with central penetration points have been suggested, but they tend to still suffer from the same problems as pure mushrooming pellets. Thus, a pellet is desired which has both penetrating and shock wave generating capability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a pellet for a weapon powered by compressed gas such as air, or CO2, the pellet having a head designed for both impact and penetration.

This is achieved with a pellet for a compressed gas powered weapon including a pellet head for mushrooming on impact and a central penetration point formed by one or more pointed blades protruding from the pellet head. The pellet head may have circumferential rim which is designed to spread open on impact and mushroom while the central pointed blade will provide penetration into the target, resulting in a larger and longer wound channel.

The pellets are preferably made of a relatively soft material which will allow for mushrooming upon impact, such as lead.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of one embodiment of a pellet in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the pellet of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of a variant of the pellet of FIG. 2, including two blades;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a second embodiment of a pellet in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the pellet of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a third embodiment of a pellet in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 7 is a top view of the pellet of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a fourth embodiment of a pellet in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 9 is a top view of the pellet of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of a pellet 10 in accordance with the invention will now be described in the following with reference to the attached FIGS. 1 to 9. In general, pellet 10 has the conventional features of a forward head portion 11, and a rearward tail portion 18 including a waist portion 12 intermediate the tail and head portions, a hollow, conical skirt 14 defining a conical propulsion air pocket 13, and a land portion 15 extending along the annular rear end of the skirt 14, as well as the novel feature of a forwardly protruding blade 30 mounted to the head portion 11.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the blade 30 has a flat, triangular body with a pair of cutting edges 31 and a base 32. The base 32 preferably includes a stem 34 which is anchored in a recess 36 in the head portion 11. The stem 34 and pocket 36 can have any geometric shape, as long as they are sufficiently congruent to ensure a reliable connection of the blade 30 to the head portion 11. The stem 34 can be screwed, pressed, soldered or glued to the head portion 11. The blade 30 can also be fastened to the head portion 11 in other ways, as long as a reliable connection between the blade 30 and the head portion 11 is achieved which will permit firing of the pellet and will avoid disintegration of the pellet on impact. The head portion 11 preferably further includes a circumferential bulge or rim 22. The rim may be provided with a plurality of radial slits 21 extending partially or completely radially through the wall of the rim 22. The rim is thereby divided into sections or expansion panels as disclosed in detail in US 6,244,186, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The head portion 11 typically has at least four radial slits 21 to allow the expansion panels to open radially outward and curl backward upon impact with a target. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the head portion is of circular cross-section. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the head portion 11 is of circular cross section with an annular rim 22. The radius of the head portion 11 depends on the caliber of the gun in which the pellet is to be used. Although heads of different cross section are conceivable, their cross section should be symmetrical to a longitudinal axis of the pellet and preferably circular. Any number of slits 21 can be used to define any number of rim sections or expansion panels, as long as the circumferential ring or rim 22 reliably separates into the expansion panels for “mushrooming” on impact. Mushrooming increases the shock wave created upon impact.

Referring to FIG. 1, the head 11 of the pellet 10 is further provided on the forward face with a centrally located penetration point 16 which is formed by the blade 30 which conically widens towards its base 32. The point 16 serves to promote deeper penetration of the target after the initial impact, while the cutting edges 31 of the blade 30 provide for increased penetration depth and cutting of internal vessels and organs. The blade 30 and cutting edges 31 provide for vastly increased penetration over that of pellets with a pointed head only, or mushrooming head pellets with a central penetration point, such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,186. The penetration point 16 of blade 30 is preferably a sharp point and the cutting edges 31 are preferably manufactured to be sharp or are sharpened. The blade 30 on the pellet 10 can be compared in construction and function to the point of an arrow or harpoon. Processes for the manufacture of cutting blades with sharp points and edges are known and need not be described herein. The cutting edges 31 can be straight as illustrated in FIG. 1 or concave as illustrated in FIG. 4, but convex cutting edges can also be used.

Moreover, the blades may be smooth or serrated.

FIG. 3 illustrates a pellet 10 including a pair of blades 30 arranged orthogonal to one another to form a star shaped penetration blade with a penetration point 16 and four cutting edges 32.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a pellet 10 including a rim 22 and a blade 30 with convexly curved cutting edges 31. The blade 30 is sized to fit within the recess defined by the circumferential rim 22. The rim 22 includes slits 21 to allow mushrooming of the pellet.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a pellet 10 including a rim 22 and a blade 30 with convexly curved cutting edges 31. The blade 30 is sized to extend to the outside of the rim 22. In other words the lower corners of the blade 30 extend into and are embedded in the rim 22. The blade 30 may be inserted into pre-existing slits 21 in the rim 22 or forced into the rim 22 during assembly. The rim 22 also includes separate slits 21 to allow mushrooming of the pellet.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a pellet 10 including a rim 22 and a central cone 40 mounted to the head portion 11 by way of a plug 42 extending into the socket 36 described above. One or more blades 30 a are embedded into the cone 40 for reliably connecting the blades with the head portion 11. The blades 30 are only partially embedded so that their cutting edges 31 protrude from the cone 40. The blades 30 may be embedded sufficiently to fit within the recess defined by the circumferential rim 22 or may with their cutting edges 31 extend into the rim 22. The rim 22 may further include slits (not shown) to further assist mushrooming of the pellet.

The blades 30 are preferably made of steel, but can be manufactured from any other material which will guarantee that the blade 30 will provide the pellet with improved penetration and not collapse on impact.

Any number of blades 30 can be used as long as there are arranged symmetrically about the axis of the pellet 10.

Although the expansion panels in the preferred embodiment as illustrated are completely separated by the intermediate slits 21 produced by cutting the rim 22, the rim can be sectioned in a variety of ways. The term section or sectioned as used herein is intended to cover a rim which is partitioned by any means which provides a dividing of the rim 22 into individual expansion panels before or upon impact for reliably achieving a mushrooming effect. For example, the slits 21 can be replaced with lines of perforations extending through the rim 22 or lines of weakness in the form of scratches, grooves, indentations, etc. located on the inside wall , the outside wall, or both sides of the rim. Partial cuts or slits 21 can be used as well, or any combination of these means for partitioning the rim.

The rearward portion 18 including the waist portion 12, the hollow, conical skirt 14, and the land portion 15 is conventional and comprises a generally frustoconical bore 17 widening rearwardly towards the land portion 15. Multiple variations of this general construction are commonly known in the art and can all be used in the pellet in accordance with the invention so that no detailed discussion thereof need be provided for a full understanding of all rearward portion variants by the person skilled in the art.

Although the pellet 10 is illustrated with a frustoconical pocket 13 used for thrusting the pellet forward from the barrel of the gun, the head 11 may be applied with any configuration of rearward portion 18 used to propel the pellet 10 forward from the barrel of a gun.

The effect of using a pellet 10 that has a head 11 which combines the features of both multiple expansion panels 23 and a central penetration point 16 on a cutting blade 30 with cutting edge 31 is to cause deeper internal damage to the target. This creates immediate internal damage to vital organs such as heart, lungs, arteries, etc. Thus, loss of the target animal and its unnecessary prolonged suffering is substantially avoided.

Various modifications to the shape and construction of the head portion 11 and the tail portion 18 are possible, provided that the head portion includes both a mushrooming structure and at least one penetrating and cutting blade 30.

The head portion 11 in another preferred embodiment is triangular in shape instead of a circular cross section or has a polygonal shape. The tail portion 18 can have a cylindrical shape (either internal, external or both) instead of the conical shape shown in the drawings, and a rearward portion whose land portion was not in continuous contact with the rifling of the gun barrel could be used as well, as long as a sufficient seal with the barrel is achieved for reliable propulsion of the bullet in and from the barrel.

When the pellet 10 includes the rim 22, the height of the blade 30 with penetration point 16 preferably always exceeds the height of the rim 22. In the preferred embodiment, the height of the blade 30 from base 34 to the penetration point 16 can even be larger than the diameter of the head portion 11, depending on the degree of penetration desired.

The expansion panels 23 are preferably of equal shape and size to provide symmetrical mushrooming of the head 11. However, expansion panels of different shape and size can also be used. The differing panels are then preferably arranged symmetrically to the longitudinal axis of the pellet. The land portion 15 can be omitted, but is preferred for improved sealing of the skirt 14 against the barrel wall (not shown).

Comparative testing of conventional pellets with a penetration point and the pellet design of the present application at 45-50 meters distance and a muzzle velocity of 820 feet per second showed that the conventional pellet did not exit the target (small game; jack rabbit), while the pellet of the present invention went clean through the target and could not be found in the vicinity of the target. It is expected that the pellet of the invention will be able to penetrate the hide of larger game and penetrate to vital organs in view the significantly improved penetration capability achieved with the provision of the blade or blades.

Changes and modifications in the specifically described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope of the invention which is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A pellet for a compressed gas powered weapon, comprising a forward head portion a rearward tail portion having a hollow propulsion gas pocket, and an intermediate waist portion, the head portion having a front end for generating a shock wave upon impact, a centrally positioned penetration point protruding from the front end and a blade having a cutting edge extending between the penetration point and the front end for promoting penetration of the pellet into a target.
 2. The pellet of claim 1, further comprising a circumferential rim protruding forwardly from the front end, the rim having at least two sections for mushrooming upon impact.
 3. The pellet of claim 1, wherein the blade has a substantially triangular body, a first corner of the body forming the penetration point and each of the adjacent sides forming the cutting edge.
 4. The pellet of claim 1, wherein the pellet includes a pair of blades arranged orthogonal to one another, each blade having a substantially triangular body, a first corner of the body forming the penetration point and each of the adjacent sides forming the cutting edge.
 5. The pellet of claim 3, wherein the triangular body includes a base side opposite the first corner for attachment to the front end.
 6. The pellet of claim 5, wherein the triangular body further includes an anchor protruding from the base side for fastening of the blade to the front end.
 7. The pellet of claim 1, wherein the penetration point is formed by the tip of a penetration cone protruding from the front end and the blade is partially embedded in the penetration cone to anchor the blade while exposing the cutting edge.
 8. The pellet of claim 7, comprising two or more blades embedded in the penetration cone, each blade having at least one exposed cutting edge.
 9. The pellet of claim 2, wherein the head is circular in cross section, and the rim is circular and includes at least two radial slits for dividing the rim into the at least two sections.
 10. The pellet of claim 9, wherein the pellet is constructed of a material promoting deformation of the rim on impact. 